The Life and Letters of Dr Samuel Hahnemann By Thomas Lindsley Bradford, M.D. Presented by Dr Robert Séror

The Life and Letters
of Dr Samuel Hahnemann
By Thomas Lindsley Bradford,
M.D.
Presented by Dr Robert Séror

Chapter 14.

Molschleben
Letters to a Patient
Pyrmont
Wolfenbuttel
Konigslutter

In
a little book, published about 1887, at

Tubingen,
by Dr. Bernhard Schuchardt
of Gotha, are published a series of letters written by Hahnemann,
between the years 1793 to 1805 to a patient, and by means of their dates
his whereabouts during this time is quite exactly determined.

A part of these letters were published in the

Monthly
Homoeopathic Review for
September, 1887.

They are of interest, as by them can be traced the gradual changes in
his prescribing from the ordinary methods of the day to the more careful
prescriptions of later years. This book and story were made the subject of

Dr. Dudgeon’s Hahnemann
Oration, delivered at
the opening of the London Homoeopathic Medical School, October 3, 1887. (”
Idem,” Vol. 31, p. 719.)

Molschleben

Hahnemann

left
Georgenthal about the middle of May, 1793, going from there to Molschleben,
a small village near Gotha. Here he again devoted himself entirely to his
literary pursuits.

Letters to a patient

He continued work on the second part of the ”

Friend
to Health,” and
composed the first part of the ”
Pharmaceutical Lexicon,” or “Apothecaries’ Dictionary,”
as it was also called.

Ameke

says :

The subjects are arranged alphabetically, and it treats of everything
which could be of use to the alphabetically in his work. The necessary
utensils are carefully described. Each article shows how well

Hahnemann
understood the subject. He often describes new apparatus invented by
himself ; the apothecary’s business of making up prescriptions and his
laboratory work are accurately and clearly explained. He gives many
directions which have now become legal enactments.

He mentions the rules for the sale of poisons, gives the most minute
directions for the care and preparation of drugs, gives the botanical
description of remedies, their time of flowering and rules for their
collection, and refers to much literature upon this subject. He quotes
from more than one hundred works of botanists and zoologists.

He recommends the preparation of tinctures from fresh plants, and
describes the medicinal uses of many drugs. This work appeared in numbers.
It received the praise of all the scientific physicians of the day, and
became the standard work on pharmacy.

And yet it may be well to remember that this consummate chemist,
botanist, and practical pharmacist, who had been a regular pharmaceutical
examiner, who was competent to write an exhaustive work upon these
subjects, and who was, without doubt, the most qualified man of his time
for such a task, was not, at a little later period, considered by the
physicians of Leipsic a proper person to prepare and dispense his own
medicines.

The most skillful chemist of his time forbidden to dispense drugs ! And
yet it is to be presumed that at the same time the excuse of these doctors
was that the

people
must be protected from irregular practitioners, as is in very isolated
cases the argument at the present day !

At this time the following cure was made by

Hahnemann
:

“While living in the village of

Molschleben,
where my children enjoyed perfect health, there were many children
affected with so-called milk crust, and to an unusual degree. As Hahnemann
thought the disease could be communicated, he endeavored to prevent
intercourse between his own and the infected children belonging to the
village. One of the boys gained access to them. I saw him playing in close
contact to them. I sent him away. but the infection had already taken
place.

The complaint began in the first child kissed, and then spread to the
other three children. (

Ameke,
page 73. )

“I poured warm water over dry

Hepar
Sulfuris (powdered
oyster shells mixed with equal parts of Sulphur,
and kept for ten
minutes at a white heat), and thus made a weak solution. I painted the
faces of the two who had the eruption worst with this every hour for two
consecutive days. After the first application the complaint was arrested
and gradually got well.”

Hahnemann’s

letters
continue to be addressed from Molschleben
until October 19, 1794, when he writes : ” Pyrmont,
where I think I shall remain.”

This place is situated in Westphalia, and was celebrated at that time
for its extensive mineral springs, utilized for bathing and drinking. He
remained there but a short time, going thence in 1795, to Wolfenbuttel, a
large fortified place on the river Ocker, five miles from Brunswick, and
the same year, 1795, again removing to Konigslutter, a small town ten
miles from Brunswick, and in the principality of Wolfenbuttel. There he
remained until 1799, when he went to Hamburg.

Konigslutter

At
Konigslutter, he wrote the second part of the ”

Friend
to Health,” and
finished the ” Pharmaceutical
Lexicon.”

He also wrote articles on the Wirtemburg and

Hahnemann
Wine Test ; on the
Preparation of Cassel Yellow
; on Crusta lactea ; Description of Klockenbring during his insanity ; on
the Pulverization of Ignatia Beans
; and several other articles.

He translated from the French,

Rousseau
on the Education of
Infants, under the
title of “Handbook
for Mothers,” from the English, the “New Edinburgh Dispensatory ”
in two volumes ; and ” Taplin’s
Veterinary Medicine.”

The translation of the Dispensatory called forth from the chemists of
Germany unstinted praise. As was his custom, he enriched it with copious
notes. (

Ameke, page
41.)

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